Not Your Princess
by dreamcatcher96
Summary: Diana hasn't spoken to Caine for over a year, so what will she do when he calls her years after the end of the FAYZ? Songfic to White Horse by Taylor Swift.


Diana was woken up by the buzzing of her cell phone. She groaned, getting out of bed and cursing whoever it was that called while she was asleep, but then the sunlight coming streaming through the window when she pulled the curtains open reminded her that it was the early afternoon, and therefore a perfectly reasonable time to call her. This didn't assuage her annoyance, however. She unplugged the infernal device and glanced at the screen, ready to yell at Sam or Jack or whoever else was bothering her, but then she saw who the call was from, and she froze.

Fearless Leader, it read. And there was his smirking face staring up at her from the screen, a picture she'd taken of him in eighth grade. Her thumb hovered over the 'answer' button, memories flooding back.

_Say you're sorry, that face of an angel comes out just when you need it to_

She had fallen for his charm. He lied to her, made promises he'd had no plans to keep, and she'd believed him, because he had said that he needed her and couldn't live without her, and she wanted so bad for it to be true, so she believed him.

_As I pace back and forth all this time, 'cause I honestly believed in you. Holdin' on, the days track on, stupid girl, should have known, should have known._

Those first few weeks, she was a mess, crying into her pillow and hating her life. She had stopped being mad at Caine fairly quickly, instead blaming herself for trusting him, for letting him manipulate her. She was supposed to be smarter than that. _She_ was supposed to be the one who played people's emotions to get what she wanted. He had beaten her at her own game.

_I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairy tale, I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell. _

Diana was done standing by while he murdered people. She was tired of him asking her advice, over and over, and then he'd turn around and do the opposite. 'Make a bargain with the townies,' she'd told him, 'Let the freaks who aren't loyal go.'

'Don't do what a creature in a mineshaft tells you to.'

'Let them go.'

'Appreciate what you have.'

'Stay on the island.'

She wasn't going to stand and let him kill little kids anymore, that wasn't who she wanted to be.

_This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town. I was a dreamer before you went and let me down, Now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around._

If it was a movie, Caine would have shown up at the lake with a dozen roses and begged her to come back with him. But the FAYZ didn't have flower shops, and the King of Perdido Beach was above begging.

If he had apologized, Diana probably would have gone back with him, been fooled again. When she'd left, part of the reason was to see if he cared enough to come after her. Once she'd gotten her answer, she began to get over him.

_Maybe I was naïve, got lost in your eyes, never really had a chance. My mistake, I didn't know to be in love you had to fight to have the upper hand._

It would never have worked out between them, they would have always fought. Neither of them cared enough about the other to back down, not really.

_I had so many dreams about you and me, happy endings, now I know that I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale, I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell. This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town, I was a dreamer before you went and let me down. Now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around._

The FAYZ had ended a few years later, when Diana was seventeen. They had both gotten out relatively unscathed, physically, at least.

They had seen each other at interviews afterwards, had a few awkward conversations between takes. Once, he asked her what had happened to their child, sounding more curious than concerned. When she asked him how he knew, he replied, 'Bug.' 'She was born premature, a month early. Died within a week.' some news intern had pulled Diana off to hair and makeup then, before he could reply.

They soon ceased to see each other. Both of them had received college scholarships, and the universities were on opposite sides of the country.

_And there you are on your knees, begging for forgiveness, begging for me, just like I always wanted,_

He wouldn't be calling her just to talk, to ask how her life had been in the three years since they'd last spoken. No, Caine didn't waste his time on things like that. If he was calling her, it meant he wanted her back. He was finally ready to apologize.

_But I'm so sorry, 'cuz I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairy tale. I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well. This is a big world, that was a small town, there in my rear view mirror disappearin' now. And it's too late for you and your white horse to catch me now._

Thumb tapping the 'ignore' button on her phone, Diana went to go get dressed. She was meeting up with Sam later, and they were both going to look for guys. (He had come out of the closet after getting fed up with reporters asking why he hadn't proposed to Astrid.)

**You've reached Diana Ladris. Please leave a message after the beep.**


End file.
